Franz Kafka
News and commentary about Franz Kafka from the archives of Jewish Literary Review.
Articles about Franz Kafka:
December 27, 2010
Kafka graffiti and street art
If a writer’s success could be measured by the amount of street art they inspired, then Franz Kafka would certainly be near the top of the list. We were able to find Kafka street art and graffiti in the United … Continue reading
December 20, 2010
Revisiting a Kafka classic: The Trial
There are few books that express the futility of man’s search for the meaning of existence more forcefully than Franz Kafka‘s The Trial. For that reason and more, it is considered one of the most important novels of the twentieth-century. … Continue reading
December 8, 2010
Rabbi Nachman, Franz Kafka and Rodger Kamenetz
I’ve been a fan of Rodger Kamenetz’s original thinking since the late 1990s when I was an intern at the Baltimore Jewish Times. He used to write these lengthy, thoughtful essays that often graced the cover of the weekly Jewish … Continue reading
December 3, 2010
Revisiting a Kafka classic: The Metamorphosis
To my dismay, I recently came across some reviews on Amazon that depicted Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis as a horror story. It’s also listed in Project Gutenberg with related books in ‘horror.’ I can kinda sorta see how someone might … Continue reading
November 29, 2010
Joseph K on the London stage
Two British comedians have developed a stage adaptation of Franz Kafka’s The Trial. According to a story in The Guardian, the two comedians, Tom Basden and Tim Key, brought their version of Kafka’s tale to the London stage this month. … Continue reading
July 19, 2010
Kafka estate case lurches forward
Franz Kafka once asked that his papers be destroyed after he died. Luckily, his friend and literary executor, Max Brod, ignored that request after Kafka’s death at age 40 in 1924 following a lengthy bout with tuberculosis. Indeed, many of … Continue reading
July 18, 2008
The Kafka ‘treasure trove’ story goes on …
This is the woman everyone wants to talk to about the possible “treasure trove” of Kafka material stashed away in a Tel Aviv apartment for the last 40 years. Her name is Hava Hoffe and she was photographed outside her … Continue reading
July 16, 2008
Was Kafka a self-hating Jew? Really?
Based on some of the things he said about Jews, certain scholars have called Franz Kafka a Jewish anti-Semite. He said he admired Zionism but was “nauseated” by it. He said he’d like to stuff all Jews (himself included) into … Continue reading
July 11, 2008
A few Shabbos reading links
These links aren't necessarily about Shabbos but I thought they'd make for some good reading material over the weekend. Enjoy. • New fiction from Nathan Englander: the author writes his own family tree • Israeli cinema has finally come into … Continue reading
June 18, 2008
Kafka on the perils of excavating in quarries while drunk
I read an interesting post over on This Space that talked about Franz Kafka‘s “rage to write” as well as the forthcoming publication of a book containing some of Kafka’s work that has never before been translated into English. The … Continue reading
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